Where Are They Now: Eva Jiricna

Jiricna’s 1986 design for Joe’s Café, a small two-level space adjacent to Joseph’s shop on London’s Sloane St., used curved floating walls to fit its triangular shape and soft lighting (“sparklets” in the suspended ceiling, cables with a bit of sparkle, and almost invisible downlights) to create a fashionable ambience. Photography by Arcaid/Richard Bryant.

To convert an existing London nightclub into a ground-floor restaurant and basement dance floor, Jiricna’s 1987 design for Legends Nightclub unified the spaces with a dramatic steel-and-aluminum staircase and a mezzanine level. Photography by Arcaid/Richard Bryant.

For the 1989 remodeling of the Alex Boutique in Florence, which was split into three levels, Jiricna used four large steps, a backlittransparent floor and a monochromatic scheme to highlight the space’s linear quality. Photography by Francesco Radino.

Required to relocate the staircase in her 1989 renovation of the three-level Joseph boutique on London’s Sloan St. to aid circulation, Jiricna also saw it as a sculptural focus. The glass-and-steel staircase was dismantled years later—but was relocated and is still in use. Photography by Arcaid/Richard Bryant.

Built in 1990, the former Joan & David store on New York’s Fifth Avenue featured a rear staircase (made in England) in the unique form of a flying “V,” with each metal tread reinforced beneath by folded stainless steel supported on a brace truss. Photography by Peter Paige.

Jiricna’s 1990 design for the former Joan & David store on New York’s Fifth Avenue maintained its warehouse-like proportions by showcasing its 16-foot Corinthian columns interwoven with strands of black-leather bench seats. Photography by Peter Paige.

For the former Joan & David shop on London’s New Bond St., opened in 1994, Jiricna made the spiral glass-and-steel staircase the focal point, its transparency accentuated by its reflective base. Photography by Arcaid/Richard Bryant.

In 1999, Jiricna designed the Canada Water bus station interchange creating a ventilated yet sound absorbent 400-foot roof enclosure with a metal-clad aerofoil design (featuring an acoustic liner) that’s supported by five columns. Photography by Arcaid/Richard Bryant.

Jiricna's striking 2002 design for the Hotel Josef in Prague was a ground-up 21st-century construction in the middle of the city's historic Medieval quarter. Shown here: the modern, monochromatic reception area, which is designed to inspire calm. Photography by Ivan Nemec.

Eva Jiricna, photographed in November 2012 Photography by Matej Slavik.

Eva Jiricna Architects won the competition to design the Victoria & Albert Museum’s two-level Jewelry Gallery, which opened in 2007. Holding 3,500 pieces from the museum’s jewelry collection in glass cases in acontinuous chronological display, it also features one of her signature glass-and-steel spiral staircases. Photography by Katsuhisa Kida.

The interior of the Zlin Cultural Centre in the Czech Republic, which Jiricna designed with retractable seats to create flexible spaces, is used for staging operas, concerts, balls and conferences. Photography by Richard Davies.